Taj The Trees

Taj The Trees is poised as a “Jewel in the Crown” within Godrej Properties’ award-winning and visionary mixed-use community located in Vikhroli, a suburb in the northeastern mangrove belt of Mumbai. Nestled within this leafy oasis, Taj The Trees serves as a focal point contributing to the vibrancy of the locale, maintaining a sense of place, and redefining luxury hospitality in the area. Sustainably planned and elegantly executed, The Trees is a a testament to Godrej’s vision, culture, and the drive to create an environment for people to live, work, collaborate and play.

Whilst the project site came with some constraints on views, circulation, setbacks, and height limits as it is located along the flight path to Mumbai, WATG, together with Studio Vikhroli team, reframed the challenges into opportunities and turned constraints into a creative driving force. From the outset, there was an intense and creative dialogue between WATG and Studio Vikhroli to distil the essence of their vision and the Godrej legacy into the design of Taj The Trees.

The architectural design concept germinated from this basic elixir, a humble box-like module, to create an elegant composition that celebrates the synergy of forms housing the various functions. Through a refined and pared down expression, the design of the hotel achieves a purity of form comprising an articulated podium base and a strong visual frame for the guest room tower above which are visibly separated by the layer of F&B offerings, pool, and other amenities.

Corten-finished vertical fins within the podium which houses the gym and spa are designed as part of a rain screen system and are rhythmically placed to give the podium a degree of visual lightness. The guest room tower above is contained within a bold “super-frame’ that gives prominence to the guest room fenestration which address the mangrove forest on one side and the sculpture park on the other. The central guest room corridors are articulated as a vertical “slit” in the massing of the guest wing tower. They are suffused with natural light and allow views of the surrounds at both ends. A vertical fin providing solar shading is placed at every guest room interval, adding a rhythm and verticality to the overall elevation, as well as contributing to the sustainability goals of the project. Seeking to reflect the materiality of Godrej’s visionary industries throughout the building fabric, a thoughtful combination of steel, glass and clean lines reflects and represents the strength in Vikhroli’s story of housing world-class manufacturing units.

Complementing the architectural simplicity, the attention to detail in the landscaping seeks to reflect Godrej’s continued commitment in sustainability and the well-being of their end-users. The landscape integrates the hotel into its surrounds, thereby creating a seamless flow between public and private spaces.

As the hotel site is surrounded by apartments and office buildings within The Trees development, the main landscape areas located at the higher levels – namely the raised lobby drop off, rooftop bar, and pool deck are visible not only from the guest rooms above, but from the surrounding buildings as well. Integrating with the overall masterplan, the landscape approach was to develop a sensitive and meaningful visual relationship with its adjacencies by promoting connectivity as well as a sense of calm and place.

The rooftop bar area affords spectacular sunset and wetland area views beyond. The pool deck level, being the hotel’s main outdoor space, is divided between the all-day dining, a la carte restaurants’ outdoor eating areas and the actual pool – a signature feature of the property.  All three spaces are integrated seamlessly, and yet retain a degree of privacy for each to function through the use of indigenous planting and local stonework. Notably, the rooftop bar and pool deck’s visibility to aircrafts passing through ensures that the world-class property and Godrej’s ambitions are on full display.

The result of the collaboration between WATG, Studio Vikhroli, the operators and the consultant team is a celebration of hospitable and sophisticated urban design that welcomes and nourishes dwellers from around the world. Taj The Trees has also received its IGBC Platinum rating, a testament to WATG’s and Godrej’s commitment to building a better future.

“We believe that the future of hospitality is here and now in Vikhroli. For the first time, both the Tata and Godrej Groups have partnered together to create a one of its kind 5-star property amidst a vibrant, mixed-use and verdant development of The Trees. We are very excited to open the hotel and we thank all our partners including WATG, IHCL, Conran and Partners and our own internal teams who have worked tirelessly to bring the best of global hospitality and sustainable luxury to Mumbai.” – Anubhav Gupta, CEO Vikhroli, Chief ESG, Sustainability & CSR Officer, Godrej Properties.

WATG Architecture team:
I-Jin Chew, Managing Principal
Chiara Calufetti-Lim, Studio Director & Principal

WATG Landscape Architecture team:
Robert Day, Project Director
Yorke Wu, Senior Project Landscape Designer & Associate

Studio Vikhroli team:
Anubhav Gupta
Namrata Mehra
Suparna Sethi
Ankan Mandal